2013 races could reveal Newtown’s lessons

The marquee 2013 governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey are about to become an early test of a suddenly urgent and passionate national dialogue on gun control, as candidates on both sides are pressed on whether more federal action is necessary to curb access to assault weapons like the one used in the Sandy Hook school massacre.

Historically, the two states could scarcely be more different — one is a heavily urban, Northeastern, Democratic state while the other is a traditionally conservative battleground where elections are decided in the outer suburbs.

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But in 2013, both gubernatorial races will be defined in terms of national politics. In New Jersey, that’s thanks to Gov. Chris Christie’s powerhouse status and possible White House ambitions. The Virginia race pits longtime Clinton family confidant and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe against state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a hero to national conservative activists.

Depending on how President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats proceed, both elections could be fought against a backdrop of gun control politics — with uncertain results in both campaigns. And two off-year statewide elections could suddenly be key to answering the question of whether the almost unspeakable pain of Newtown, Conn., brings lasting changes to American politics and policies.

Former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean, a moderate Republican, predicted that if the president “really speaks out and comes up with a proposal,” then “the governor and everybody else is going to be forced to participate” in a national conversation about gun rights.

That would mean firmly taking sides on an incendiary issue in the wake of a national tragedy — a step candidates in both states might prefer to avoid.

In Virginia, a national debate over gun control would intersect with a state political culture in dramatic flux, in which generational and demographic changes have led a once-reliably conservative state to elect two Democratic senators and give its Electoral College votes twice to Obama. State Democrats, who have spent a decade playing down Second Amendment issues, sense that the underlying ideological lines there may have shifted.

The Republican-controlled Virginia Legislature generated controversy over the summer by repealing a decades-old law — passed under former Democratic Gov. Doug Wilder — limiting handgun sales to one weapon per person, per month, and a Quinnipiac University poll taken in August found that 52 percent of voters support a ban on high-capacity magazines. The 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech still casts a long shadow in state politics, and Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly won a tough 2010 reelection fight by attacking his Republican opponent’s endorsement of the right to carry guns on college campuses.

Readers' Comments (32)

How will China's demands of Obama to take immediate action to disarm Americans and to enforce strict gun control effect America's politics? This comes from China's official information source www.xinhua.

Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. believed in the right to bear arms and self defense. During the Vietnam War era MLK knew that a free people owned guns but a slave did not. MLK told his followers to leave all of their different types of assault weapons at home that they used to protect themselves and their families whenever they peacefully marched.

The NRA OWNS Politicians In Washington DC. The 20 Children Killed In Newton NEVER had a lobbyist to defend THEIR RIGHT TO live a happy and productive LIFE.

How The UK Solve Its Gun Problem After Dunblin Massacre In Which 16 Children Aged 5 and 6 Were Killed

The Firearms (Amendment) Act 1997 was introduced by the Conservative Government of John Major following the Dunblane Massacre.

It effectively banned the possession of all handguns other than those chambered for .22 Rim-fire cartridges by civilians in most of the United Kingdom by making them subject to Section Five (Prohibited Weapons) of the Firearms Acts.

Tony Blair's Labour Government followed later in the year with the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 which banned .22 handguns.

"Tony Blair's Labour Government followed later in the year with the Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 which banned .22 handguns."

What did their "Constitution" say? Ours allows firearms. Check it out sometime. It's an interesting read and doesn't take very long.. Americans also have more freedom of speech than Brits have, and a lot more than the French have..

Once the smoke clears and this gets pushed to the back of the news cycle, all the hysteria over gun control will disappear as people move on to other things that are happening in this country.

By the time Obama's "committee" and the anti-2nd amendment legislation actually sees he light of day all the scare mongering by the progressives will be for naught. The country will be dealing with more serious stuff like the economy, fiscal cliff and debt ceiling.

We should be thanking our lucky stars that Democrats overreached in Obama's first term thus giving the republicans the house for at least a decade. Obama and his regime won't get any of their liberal progressive 2nd term wish list items like gun control or be able to change/fix obamacare with the house firmly in Republican control.

Newtown was a tragedy that should never have happened. The mother of that little ass hole should NEVER have left her guns in a place where her sick-in-the-head creep son could access them. She should have been required to store them OUT OF HER HOUSE, at a gun shooting range, or somewhere like that.

She knew her son was nuts. Oh, I know, that is not the polite word, not the politically correct term. But he was nuts, period. And now beautiful innocent children are dead and their family will be shattered forever. That is the lesson of Newtown, or should be.

Anybody with a mentally unwell person living in their house will not be allowed to keep or store guns of any kind in their house. That is how the law should read. Anybody applying to buy a gun-ANY KIND OF GUN-should be required to undergo an interview with a psychiatrist, in the same way that prospective police officers are. Most big city police departments employ psychiatrists or psychologists, who are trained to look for clues to the personality or mental problems which indicate that a person is not suited for police work. Anybody who is unfit to be a cop is unfit to own a gun.

The races will have little to do with Newtown. While the media is likely to ask questions, candidates will be reluctant to offer concrete proposals, policies, or recommendations. They are taking too big of a risk in providing prescriptions for actions when the public is sharply divided.

Newtown will be discussed, but it will be bland and non-conclusive. And it won't drive voters in any direction as far as candidates go. It will certainly be front and center in relatively uncontested elections (blue states and counties will support legislation, and deeply red states and counties will be supportive of 2d Amendment rights and view measures considered to be largely ineffectiual in addressing the causes.

Purple states and counties will largely not address the options in any concrete fashion. No election is likely to turn on the issue of gun legislation or Newtown.

Sadly, everyone is discounting the fact that these mass murders in our country are being carried out by young white males. Why is it that American females don't commit these evil actions? Unfortunately it has taken the killing of these young, predominantly white children and teachers for the country to be galvanized that change is required... and that does not mean to violate the 2d Amendment. What is a militia anyway in today's society? Where has been the outrage over the last few years when over 500,000 have been shot to death? Enough is enough America and the NRA, including GOP/DEM supporters, Pres Obama, and Supreme Court, must hear loud and clear from the majority that we have had enough of innocent killings from weapons made for wars against the enemy and not against our own innocent citizens.

Virginia Attorney General Coochie is a GUN NUT. He also opposes birth control, the teaching of science in public schools, negro voting and naked women on the state flag. This should be a heck of an election in the Old Dominion.

If you were to google "remote scanning merchandise" you will find many web links on this subject. You will simply drive your shopping cart through this check out scanner and it reads all the merchandise in your cart at once. Why can't they require guns to have secured bar codes on them, that can be read by these remote scanners? Then they could place these scanners at schools and malls. Then if there is a breach, the locking system of these buildings would automatically be activated. If they can place a robot on Mars; why can't they do something like this?

Yes! So Pro-American, Constitutionalist BETTER be speaking up, before the Leftist LiberalMedia is totally successful of tainting the minds of the Gullible and ignorant about gun control ! Like Romney did not successfully defend himself, kept silent while the lying or hurtful narrative was being fed into the minds of the uninformed masses.Look where that got him! SPEAK UP, CONSTITUTIONALIST ! LET THE TRUTH BE HEARD ! INFORM THE EASILY MISLED , IGNORANT, AND / OR EVIL !

How about just ban gun possession to males that were raised in broken homes? Apparently, that's the best indicator of males growing-up to be thugs. Or better yet, outlaw divorce, premarital sex, and gay marriage. Oh, that's not politically correct, huh? Then, you, hypocrites, don't really care about striking at the root of the problem, but make everybody else pay for the sins of others!!! Oh, and as for the females raised in broken homes, they usually grow-up to be whores or sluts.

beisbolfan Most big city police departments employ psychiatrists or psychologists, who are trained to look for clues to the personality or mental problems which indicate that a person is not suited for police work. Anybody who is unfit to be a cop is unfit to own a gun.

So how many cops beat people on the side of the road? Just the ones that we are told about?Just the ones that your psychiatrists or psychologists miss diagnosed? How about this. Lets put people in prison before they commit a crime. Lets put people in prison because they have access to guns.

Better yet lets have a conversation on why these crimes are being committed in the first place instead of the knee jerk reaction that will only benefit the ones that will take advantage of a bad situation. Like the gun control nuts that will be elected in the next cycle.